Glass bubble,Hollow glass microspheres , Glass sphere beads, Manufacturer & suppliers

Glass bubbles, also known as glass microspheres or glass cenospheres, can be used to enhance drilling operations by improving drilling efficiency and reducing the overall weight of drilling fluids. Here are a few ways glass bubbles can help in drilling:

1. Weight Reduction: Glass bubbles are lightweight additives that can be used to reduce the density of drilling fluids. By replacing heavier materials like barite or hematite with glass bubbles, the overall weight of the drilling fluid is reduced. This weight reduction minimizes the pressure exerted on the formation being drilled, reducing the risk of wellbore instability and lost circulation.
2. Density Control: Glass bubbles can be utilized to control the density of drilling fluids within a desired range. They can be added to adjust the density of the fluid to match the specific requirements of the drilling operation, ensuring optimal drilling performance.
3. Suspension Properties: Glass bubbles have excellent suspension properties due to their spherical shape and low density. They can help prevent settling and provide better suspension of solids in the drilling fluid, reducing the risk of blockages or plugging of the drilling system.
4. Lubrication and Friction Reduction: The smooth surface of glass bubbles can act as a lubricant, reducing friction between the drilling fluid and the wellbore. This helps in reducing torque and drag, improving drilling efficiency and reducing wear on drilling equipment.
5. Thermal Insulation: Glass bubbles have low thermal conductivity, which can help provide thermal insulation in high-temperature drilling environments. They can help reduce heat transfer from the wellbore to the surrounding formations, minimizing the risk of damage to the wellbore or formation.
6. Lost Circulation Control: Glass bubbles can be used as lost circulation materials to address lost circulation issues during drilling. They can be pumped into the wellbore to seal off fractures or porous formations, preventing the loss of drilling fluids into these formations.

It’s important to note that the selection and application of glass bubbles in drilling operations require careful consideration of factors such as particle size, concentration, and compatibility with drilling fluids. Consulting with experienced drilling professionals or specialists and following recommended guidelines and best practices is crucial for the effective and safe utilization of glass bubbles in drilling operations.

Glass bubbles, also known as glass microspheres or glass beads, are often used in various applications ranging from composites and fillers to insulation and lightweighting. The treatment of glass bubbles depends on the specific requirements of the intended application. Here are some common treatments and processes associated with glass bubbles:

1. Surface Treatment: Glass bubbles can undergo surface treatments to improve their compatibility with different materials. Surface treatments such as silane coupling agents or polymer coatings can be applied to enhance bonding and adhesion properties between the glass bubbles and the surrounding matrix.
2. Sizing: Glass bubbles can be produced in different size ranges to suit specific application needs. By controlling the size distribution, the desired density and flow characteristics can be achieved. The sizing process involves sieving or classifying the glass bubbles to separate them into different size fractions.
3. Mixing and Dispersion: Glass bubbles are often mixed and dispersed into a matrix material, such as resins, polymers, or coatings, to create composites or lightweight materials. Proper mixing and dispersion techniques, such as mechanical stirring, ultrasonication, or high-shear mixing, ensure uniform distribution of the glass bubbles within the matrix, resulting in improved mechanical and physical properties.
4. Composite Processing: Glass bubble-filled composites may undergo additional processing steps depending on the specific application. This can include methods such as compression molding, injection molding, extrusion, or filament winding. The goal is to achieve the desired shape, consolidation, and consolidation of the glass bubble-filled composite.
5. Curing or Hardening: In applications where the matrix material is a thermosetting resin, a curing process is typically employed to harden and solidify the composite. This process involves subjecting the composite to elevated temperatures or chemical catalysts to initiate the curing reaction, resulting in a strong and rigid final product.
6. Surface Modification: Glass bubbles can be subjected to surface modification techniques to introduce specific functionalities or characteristics. For example, the glass bubble surface can be modified with hydrophobic or hydrophilic coatings to control wettability or improve moisture resistance.

Glass bubbles, also known as glass microspheres or glass beads, are lightweight, hollow spheres made of glass. They are used in various industries, including thermosets and thermoplastics, due to their unique properties. Here’s how glass bubbles are utilized in these applications:

1. Lightweight Filler: Glass bubbles have a low density, making them an ideal lightweight filler for thermoset and thermoplastic materials. They can be added to resin systems to reduce density and weight without sacrificing mechanical properties.
2. Density Control: Glass bubbles allow for precise control of the density of the composite material. By adjusting the loading level of glass bubbles, manufacturers can tailor the density of the final product to meet specific requirements.
3. Thermal Insulation: Glass bubbles have excellent thermal insulation properties. When incorporated into thermoset or thermoplastic materials, they can enhance the thermal insulation characteristics of the end product, making it suitable for applications where heat transfer control is essential.
4. Improved Dimensional Stability: Glass bubbles can contribute to improved dimensional stability in thermoset and thermoplastic composites. Their low thermal expansion coefficient helps reduce shrinkage and warping, resulting in tighter tolerances and better overall part performance.
5. Enhanced Mechanical Properties: Glass bubbles can enhance the mechanical properties of thermoset and thermoplastic materials. By reinforcing the matrix, they can improve stiffness, impact resistance, and tensile strength.
6. Reduced Material Cost: Glass bubbles can be used as a cost-effective filler material, as they have a lower cost compared to other fillers such as glass fibers or carbon fibers. Incorporating glass bubbles can help reduce material costs while maintaining or improving performance.
7. Processing Advantages: The use of glass bubbles in thermosets and thermoplastics can offer processing benefits. Due to their spherical shape and low surface area, they can flow easily during molding processes, resulting in improved mold filling, reduced viscosity, and decreased cycle times.

Inorganic glass bubbles, also known as glass microspheres or glass beads, are tiny spherical particles made from inorganic materials, primarily glass. They have a hollow structure, resembling microscopic bubbles, and are typically produced through a manufacturing process known as expansion or foaming.

These glass bubbles are lightweight, rigid, and possess unique properties that make them valuable in various applications. Some key characteristics of inorganic glass bubbles include:

1. Low Density: Glass bubbles have a low density compared to solid glass or other fillers. Their density can be tailored to specific requirements, typically ranging from 0.15 to 0.60 g/cm³. This low density contributes to their lightweight nature.
2. High Strength: Despite their lightweight structure, inorganic glass bubbles exhibit considerable strength and durability. They can withstand high pressures and temperatures without deforming or breaking.
3. Thermal Insulation: The hollow structure of glass bubbles provides excellent thermal insulation properties. They have low thermal conductivity, allowing them to reduce heat transfer in various applications.
4. Chemical Resistance: Inorganic glass bubbles are resistant to chemicals, solvents, and moisture. They maintain their structural integrity and performance even in harsh environments.
5. Buoyancy: Due to their low density, glass bubbles offer buoyancy when incorporated into materials such as coatings, composites, or syntactic foams. This property makes them useful in buoyancy control applications, marine industries, and aerospace.

Applications of inorganic glass bubbles are wide-ranging and include:

1. Lightweight Fillers: Glass bubbles are used as lightweight fillers in a variety of materials, including plastics, rubber, coatings, adhesives, and sealants. They help reduce weight and enhance the properties of the final product.
2. Thermal Insulation: Glass bubbles are incorporated into insulation materials to improve their thermal performance. They enhance insulation properties in construction materials, cryogenic systems, and thermal packaging.
3. Syntactic Foams: Glass bubbles are combined with resins or polymers to form syntactic foams. These foams provide lightweight buoyancy and structural reinforcement in applications such as marine vessels, underwater vehicles, and aerospace components.
4. Oil and Gas Industry: Glass bubbles are used in drilling fluids and cements to reduce density, improve thermal insulation, and enhance buoyancy control in oil and gas exploration.
5. Automotive and Aerospace: Inorganic glass bubbles find applications in lightweight automotive components, aerospace structures, and soundproofing materials, where their low density and insulation properties are advantageous.

The specific properties and applications of inorganic glass bubbles may vary depending on the manufacturing process, size, and composition.

We are spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing a thermometer, from the trusty old mercury thermometer to modern-day digital sensors. Centuries ago, though, measuring the ambient temperature was performed by devices such as the Galileo thermometer.

A Galileo thermometer is a meteorological instrument consisting of a sealed glass tube filled with a clear liquid containing small glass bulbs of varying densities. Ambient temperature changes also alter the liquid’s density, causing different bulbs to rise or fall, which indicates the temperature.

Although this specific thermometer as we know it today wasn’t designed by Galileo himself, all the principles that the thermometer is based upon were discovered and implemented by Galileo Galilei and his thermoscope.

What Is A Galileo Thermometer?
A Galileo thermometer is a meteorological instrument consisting of a sealed glass tube filled with a clear liquid containing small glass bulbs of varying densities. Ambient temperature changes also alter the liquid’s density, causing different bulbs to rise or fall, which indicates the temperature.

Each bubble is partially filled with a different colored liquid. Small metal tags of different weights are also hanged below each bulb to adjust their “density,” while each tag also contains a number.

Any changes in air temperature change the density of the liquid as well. This causes the bubbles inside the liquid to rise and fall in response to changes in the fluid’s density.

By observing the different heights at which the glass bubbles are floating, the temperature can be determined. This is done by identifying the number of the tag below the bubble floating at the “right height.”

If this sounds confusing to you, you are not alone. If I only described to you what a Galileo thermometer looks like and how it responds to temperature changes, it would be difficult to understand what is really happening and why.

One needs to understand the principles and forces at work that make all the parts in this thermometer behave the way they do and how they all work together to help determine the atmospheric temperature.

ARTICLE SOURCE: ownyourweather

RTP Company announces the availability of specialty compounds containing hollow glass microspheres which reduce part weight, enhance properties and lower part costs in demanding applications.

High loadings of these microspheres, which are manufactured by 3M and known as ScotchliteTM Glass Bubbles, can be added to thermoplastics to reduce overall part weight, and thus per part material costs. Additionally, they can modify polymer characteristics, achieving lower viscosity, improved flow, and reduced shrinkage and warpage.

For example, some compounds containing ScotchliteTM Glass Bubbles can have their specific gravity reduced by as much as 30 percent. The use of glass bubbles also provides more uniform control and reproducibility than other methods typically used for weight reduction, such as foaming agents.

ScotchliteTM Glass Bubbles reduce thermal conductivity and lower dielectric constants of most thermoplastics. Non-combustible and non-porous, the glass bubbles do not absorb moisture. Compounds containing ScotchliteTM Glass Bubbles are available in most engineering resins and easily adapt to common processing methods, including injection molding and extrusion. Applications that can benefit from this weight saving technology exist in the aerospace, automotive, marine, electronic, and medical industries.

FROM:RTP Company

Observing glass beads under a microscope

40 mesh solid glass beads with a rounding rate greater than 85%

40-mesh glass beads with a rounding rate greater than 80%

200 mesh solid glass beads

hollow glass beads

325 mesh glass beads with a rounding rate greater than 90%

FROM:HS glass beads

New glass bubbles for 5G, the newest member of its high-strength hollow glass bubbles product line, provides a unique, low-loss high speed high frequency (HSHF) resin additive for composite materials that designers use to build 5G devices and assemblies. The Glass Bubbles help designers enable products that can meet the rigorous transmission requirements and increased power demands that come with 5G implementation, while lowering the per volume cost of raw materials.

The Glass Bubbles for 5G help enable designers of HSHF copper clad laminate (CCL) to produce smooth, lightweight 5G substrates for building printed circuit boards (PCBs) – the building blocks for 5G wireless radio systems. They can also be used in plastic composites that a 5G signal transfers through, such as base station assemblies, radome shells, or even mobile phone cases. For further information see the IDTechEx report on 5G Small Cells 2021-2031: Technologies, Markets, Forecast.

Signal loss and interference have always been a factor in PCB manufacturing and will become more challenging as 5G networks operate at higher signal frequencies. Using The Glass Bubbles as a resin additive in the CCL helps control dielectric properties, allowing design engineers to reduce signal transmission loss at higher frequencies and improves signal reliability. The Glass Bubbles have one of the lowest dielectric constants of any known materials additive, making it attractive for the electronics industry.

“The Glass Bubbles have been used for more than 50 years and recent innovation has enabled the design of a bubble targeting the unique needs of 5G electronics. The new Glass Bubbles were designed specifically for 5G to help improve data transfer speeds in higher frequency applications,” said Brian Meyer, President of Advanced Materials Division. “They are committed to the 5G space, and we’re excited to apply our science where it matters most, collaborating on the low-loss materials needed to help designers with their higher speed wireless communications challenges now and in the future.”

Blending in Glass Bubbles for 5G HSHF CCL can also help designers lower their substrate materials costs by displacing typically higher cost resins. Further, lightweight Glass Bubbles occupy up to 20 times more space compared to the typical solid mineral fillers. Considering the cost per unit volume (instead of price per lb. or kg), The Glass Bubbles are a cost-effective choice in many applications.

FROM:

Technology created by researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) is literally shedding light on some of the smallest particles to detect their presence – and it’s made from tiny glass bubbles.

The technology has its roots in a peculiar physical phenomenon known as the “whispering gallery,” described by physicist Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt) in 1878 and named after an acoustic effect inside the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Whispers made at one side of the circular gallery could be heard clearly at the opposite side. It happens because sound waves travel along the walls of the dome to the other side, and this effect can be replicated by light in a tiny glass sphere just a hair’s breadth wide called a Whispering Gallery Resonator (WGR).

A magnified photograph of a glass Whispering Gallery Resonator. The bubble is extremely small, less than the width of a human hair.

When light is shined into the sphere, it bounces around and around the inner surface, creating an optical carousel. Photons bouncing along the interior of the tiny sphere can end up travelling for long distances, sometimes as far as 100 meters. But each time a photon bounces off the sphere’s surface, a small amount of light escapes. This leaking light creates a sort of aura around the sphere, known as an evanescent light field. When nanoparticles come within range of this field, they distort its wavelength, effectively changing its color. Monitoring these color changes allows scientists to use the WGRs as a sensor; previous research groups have used them to detect individual virus particles in solution, for example. But at OIST’s Light-Matter Interactions Unit, scientists saw they could improve on previous work and create even more sensitive designs. The study is published in Optica.

Today, Dr. Jonathan Ward is using WGRs to detect minute particles more efficiently than ever before. The WGRs they have made are hollow glass bubbles rather than balls, explains Dr. Ward. “We heated a small glass tube with a laser and had air blown down it – it’s a lot like traditional glass blowing”. Blowing the air down the heated glass tube creates a spherical chamber that can support the sensitive light field. The most noticeable difference between a blown glass ornament and these precision instruments is the scale: the glass bubbles can be as small as 100 microns– a fraction of a millimeter in width. Their size makes them fragile to handle, but also malleable.

Working from theoretical models, Dr. Ward showed that they could increase the size of the light field by using a thin spherical shell (a bubble, in other words) instead of a solid sphere. A bigger field would increase the range in which particles can be detected, increasing the efficacy of the sensor. “We knew we had the techniques and the materials to fabricate the resonator”, said Dr. Ward. “Next we had to demonstrate that it could outperform the current types used for particle detection”.

A diagram showing the new WGR experiments. Test particles (shown here in green) are passed through a light field, which distorts the light wavelength, which can be used to detect the particles.

To prove their concept, the team came up with a relatively simple test. The new bubble design was filled with a liquid solution containing tiny particles of polystyrene, and light was shined along a glass filament to generate a light field in its liquid interior. As particles passed within range of the light field, they produced noticeable shifts in the wavelength that were much more pronounced than those seen with a standard spherical WGR.

With a more effective tool now at their disposal, the next challenge for the team is to find applications for it. Learning what changes different materials make to the light field would allow Dr Ward to identify and target them, and even control their activity.

Despite their fragility, these new versions of WGRs are easy to manufacture and can be safely transported in custom made cases. That means these sensors could be used in a wide verity of fields, such as testing for toxic molecules in water to detect pollution, or detecting blood borne viruses in extremely rural areas where healthcare may be limited.

For Dr. Ward however, there’s always room from improvement: “We’re always pushing to get even more sensitivity and find the smallest particle this sensor can detect. We want to push our detection to the physical limits.”
By Andrew Scott

As the search continues for lower material costs, without sacrificing performance or processability, glass bubbles are getting more attention. Reducing density with additives is not new, but bubbles are showing advantages.

As the search continues for lower material costs, without sacrificing performance or processability, glass bubbles are getting more attention. Reducing density with additives is not new, but bubbles are showing advantages.

Resin compounder Noble Polymers (Grand Rapids, MI), a subsidiary of manufacturer Cascade Engineering, has developed a low-density resin formulation that reduces the weight of parts molded of TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin) by up to 20%. It’s a masterbatch bulk resin additive that incorporates hollow glass bubbles to displace resin and reduce part density in molded, thermoformed, and extruded products.

“Mandated standards for Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), along with the drive to reduce industrial emissions and achieve more sustainable production methods, have led to a growing demand for enhanced TPO production methods,” says Tim Patterson, Noble Polymers business unit manager. “Glass bubble additives in our masterbatch material displace hydrocarbon-based resin content and lighten parts to help cut transport fuel consumption.

“Use of density-reducing agents for filled TPO raw material is not a new concept,” Patterson continues. “While various filler materials have been used to reduce TPO part density, glass bubbles have significant process and resin displacement advantages over alternate fillers. We’ve found that the addition of glass bubbles yields secondary benefits to TPO components as well, including improved part stiffness, greater dimensional stability, and reduced shrinkage.”

Patterson says traditional resin-displacement mineral fillers such as cenospheres, asbestos particulate, chopped glass fiber, and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) have considerably less volume per unit weight than glass bubbles. For example, 1 kg of typical glass bubble material has a volume of 1666.7 cm3, while the equivalent weight of CaCO3 displaces only 370.4 cm3. Thus its resin displacement potential per unit of weight is only a fraction of that of glass bubbles.

Glass bubble selection
Wang says the class of bubbles selected for a masterbatch depends on the end use of the TPO component. For example, the pressures involved in TPO molding require glass bubbles with elevated crush strength. Glass bubble strength is generally proportional to density, and thus lower-strength bubbles are less dense, and offer greater potential for TPO weight reduction than thicker-walled, higher-strength bubbles.

According to Wang, bubble size impacts TPO surface finish as well as stress transmission through the composite, with smaller bubbles contributing to more favorable impact and tensile properties. “In general, higher-strength bubbles are required for injected molded interior and exterior automotive components, and other industrial components,” says Wang.

Noble’s development work shows that mold shrinkage in a TPO part is inversely proportional to the volume percentage of glass bubbles in the mix. The modulus (stiffness) of a part also increases in proportion to the ratio of glass bubbles to resin. The positive attributes of increased stiffness and heat distortion temperature (HDT) as well as decreasing coefficient of linear thermal expansion (CLTE), shrink, warp, and sink marks continue to improve as the percentage of glass bubbles in the resin mix rises. Tensile strength, elongation, and impact strength tend to decrease as well. Complementary additives in the masterbatch can modify these values to some degree.

“In general, plastics are flexible and experience ductile failure under stress, while glass adds stiffness but is more prone to brittle breakage,” said Wang. “It is possible to improve TPO impact strength by adding an impact modifier to the masterbatch that reduces potential for brittle failure while maintaining the stiffness advantage.”

According to Wang, the concentration of glass bubbles in a masterbatch additive mix varies, but can be as much as 50% by weight, depending on customer requirements. Finished parts made using this masterbatch glass bubble concentration will be 20% or more lighter than resin-only parts.

“Process tests show that a Noble masterbatch formulation with glass bubbles can cut TPO injection molding production time as much as 20%,” says Wang. “This benefit is apparently related to changes in thermal properties that result from displacing resin with hollow glass (reduced mass), and the resulting time savings are concentrated primarily during the cooling period.”

In addition to automotive, exploring markets such as building materials, composite materials, sporting goods, and construction applications, where benefits seen include weight reduction, processing improvements, and product design enhancements, according to William Donahue, business manager, Resin System Additives.

And the cost compared with straight TPO? “There is a premium that can be offset by manufacturing improvements, weight reduction, and/or product enhancements,” says Donahue. “The potential cost savings depends upon the density and the cost of the polymer.”

Noble Polymers works with individual customers to determine precise TPO part specifications, and multiple interests are weighted in a staged/gate process to achieve optimum density reduction while meeting necessary physical specifications. The resulting formulas are confidential and proprietary to customers. Patterson estimates that nearly half of the company’s TPO masterbatch customer applications call for some degree of formula customization, while the balance can be met using the company’s standard masterbatch material.

FROM:plasticstoday